An ink jet printer is described below as one example of an ink jet recording apparatus or a liquid ejecting apparatus. For mounting an ink cartridge on an ink jet printer, a relatively great pressing force is required. For this reason, in a known technique, before the ink cartridge is mounted, both sides of the ink cartridge are held by a pair of cartridge holding units provided on the ink jet recording apparatus. The pair of cartridge holding units is then moved in a mounting direction by turning of a lever arm, and the ink cartridge is thus mounted (for example, Patent Document 1).
FIGS. 34(A), 34(B), and 34(C) show an example of a cartridge holding unit 501 in a known ink-cartridge attaching and detaching device 500. FIG. 34(A) shows a state of completion of mounting. FIG. 34(B) shows how the cartridge holding unit 501 moves in a dismounting direction during dismounting. FIG. 34(C) shows a state in which, during dismounting, the cartridge holding unit 501 stops and an urging force of a slider spring 508 moves an ink cartridge 510 in the dismounting direction. In FIGS. 34(A), 34(B), and 34(C), a direction from the right side to the left side is a mounting direction, and a direction from the left side to the right side is a dismounting direction. The cartridge holding unit 501 in the ink-cartridge attaching and detaching device 500 is provided at each of both sides in a width direction with respect to the mounting direction. The both cartridge holding units 501 perform the same operation, so only one of the cartridge holding units 501 will be described below.
In a state of the cartridge holding unit 501 shown in FIG. 34(C), in order to cause the ink cartridge 510 to be held by the cartridge holding unit 501, the ink cartridge 510 is inserted into an insertion opening (not shown) of a main body of a recording apparatus. Then, a contact portion 512 of the ink cartridge comes into contact with an abutment portion 507 of the cartridge holding unit. At this time, a slider 506 on which the abutment portion 507 is provided is movable within a casing 502 of the cartridge holding unit 501 in the mounting direction and the dismounting direction. The slider 506 is continually urged by the slider spring 508. Therefore, to move the ink cartridge 510 in an insertion direction (same as the mounting direction) further, it is necessary to push in the ink cartridge 510 against the urging force of the slider spring 508. When the ink cartridge 510 is pushed in the insertion direction against the urging force of the slider spring 508, the slider 506 moves together with the ink cartridge 510.
At this time, the slider 506 is provided with an engagement portion 504 slidable in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction and toward the ink-cartridge side. A projection 505 on the engagement portion 504 is guided to a groove 503 of the casing 502. Therefore, when the ink cartridge 510 is pushed in by more than a fixed stroke, the engagement portion 504 is slit with respect to the slider 506 and engages with a depression 511 of the ink cartridge 510. When the ink cartridge 510 is pushed in further, a slider nail portion (not shown) on the slider 506 engages with the casing 502, and the ink cartridge 510 is held by the cartridge holding unit 501. Then, when a lever arm (not shown) is turned, as shown in FIG. 34(A), the ink cartridge 510 and the cartridge holding unit 501 integrally move in the mounting direction, and the mounting is completed.
The operation during dismounting will now be described below.
When the lever arm is turned in a direction that is opposite to that for mounting, the ink cartridge 510 and the cartridge holding unit 501 integrally move from a state shown in FIG. 34(A) to a state shown in FIG. 34(B). Then, when the lever arm (not shown) is further turned in the opposite direction, an unlocking unit (not shown) releases engagement of the slider nail portion (not shown) and the casing 502. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 34(C), the urging force of the slider spring 508 extrudes the ink cartridge 510 in the dismounting direction.
As described above, the known ink-cartridge attaching and detaching device 500 moves the ink cartridge 510 by using the urging force of the slider spring 508 in the dismounting direction with respect to the cartridge holding unit 501.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-254794